Railroaders' Nostalgia > Merrick Tower at Dawn

My engineer, R. R. Stephens & I are in the cab of AT&SF 5202 on eastbound train 513 CK-1 rolling over Santa Fe’s Middle Division, 4th District toward our home terminal of Emporia, KS. We went on duty in Arkansas City at midnight-fifteen, but have not had that great a trip. Even taking the ‘long way’ around through Mulvane, with 2 big SDs & just over 2000 tons we could have been into Emporia easily over an hour ago. Lots of opposing westbound traffic put the kibosh to that idea.

As we start into the Flint Hills valley between Matfield Green & Ellinor we can hear crackling radio traffic in the early morning darkness. A westbound has just departed the Emporia passenger station and is crossing over to the south main at at Merrick. The timing looks close. We have a shot at making it into the 4th District siding at Ellinor before that train show…. nope, a flashing yellow approach to Gladstone tells us the DS isn’t taking any chances. Must be a hot one heading our way! We quickly get or short train (44 cars) ‘in the clear’, then slowly drift down to the east end. The sky ahead is just showing a faint rosy hue. The wait is not very long because here comes a bright headlight over the Cottonwood River. As our respective consists line up head-to-head both headlights go to dim. A spooky effect, when you know your opposing train is coming at you @ 70-per! The quadruple whoosh of growling power is followed by the rhythmic cadence of racing piggy-back vans, now brightly lit by our headlight. At track speed those California-bound pigs are displaying an impressive minimum of bounce & sway. Then a bright red waycar flashes by.

The DS gives us a clear signal right away and we re-enter the mainline. It’s our turn to cross the Cottonwood, and after sweeping around the gentle right hand curve we see an encouraging sight. West Ellinor is flashing yellow. This means at the plant we’ll cross over to the 1st District middle main for the final few miles into Emporia. Looks like it’s a mainline, depot crew-change for us.

But the Yardmaster at Emporia has other ideas. Come ride the final miles with us! We’ll see a pale sunrise & a ghost from ‘the old days’…

1. After crossing over at Ellinor engineer Stephens calls in to get our arrival instructions from the Emporia Yardmaster. We are passing over the Chase/Lyon County line east of Saffordville, a traditional call-in point. He tells us to bring our train into the eastbound yard, and “leave the power on”. Nearing the old timetable location of Plymouth, KS there is pink & salmon color in the sky. We spot the approach to Merrick. It is yellow, sealing our inbound yard fate. Our train speed is winding down…

2. The signal at west Merrick is red-over-yellow, beckoning us down to restricted speed for a crossover move that will deposit us onto the 10 MPH eastbound lead.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/14 19:40 by santafe199.

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3. 4. & 5. The sun plays peek-a-boo with the ghostly remains of Merrick interlocking tower. Mr. Sol is trying hard to burn through Kansas’ heavy morning atmosphere. We are down to 10 MPH as the lead wheels ease into the first turnout.

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6. We’re on the lead now, and we get one last look at a hazy Kansas sunrise before the camera has to be put away. Gotta be ready to make sure we’re lined into the correct track…

We pull our short 513 all the way up to the east end, nodding at the crew van driver heading back to pick up Conductor C. C. Renfro & my now-forgotten braking partner for the round trip. We are on the ground now, and the crew van has returned to get us. We ride to the station for our tie-up.

According to my timebook I’ll get less than 24 hours off. I will go on duty at 0500 in the morning for a 364 train right back to Ark City…
(6 photos taken April 1, 1984 en route between Plymouth & Emporia, KS)

Thanks for riding along!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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too bad cameras are banned nowadays, buddy
at least you got these to share !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/14 06:26 by The_Chief_Way.

Great shots of area that I know well. Spent many countless wonderful times at the Emporia depot. Loved the "tippy-toe" the crews did when they still changed crews there.
Broke my heart when the station burned. Thru the grapevine I heard it was burning and beat it up there. I have several pics while the Emporia fire department was still at the scene. It was neat to be able to see the CTC machine in the window and note the activity on the Eastern Division 2nd District toward KC. You could also tell there would be activity when crews showed up with their grips in decent weather and camped out on the platform.

Just a little tidbit. According to Middle Division ETT #46 effective March 15, 1925 Merrick was then known as West Tower Emporia and was not even shown on 1st District timetable page. Middle Division ETT effective June 1, 1930 do's show it as being MP115.3. Just remember mile posts were from Atchison in those days so within about 5 years the name Merrick came to be. Have tried to find the history of the name but to no avail. Suspect that it named after a ATSF employee but that is supposition on my part.

My parents grew up in Florence and when they went up to see my grandfather as soon as the car stopped I was off to the depot and spent the day there. He died in 1948 when he was 93 and I was 11. Got to start the motor from Ellinwood to Florence and back via the McPherson District and thought I was the king of the hill.

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> too bad cameras are banned nowadays, buddy
> at least you got these to share !
Oh there will be cameras in the cab, but they will be aimed at who ever is left running there. Although I carried my slide camera with me until the day I retired and took pictures until the day I retired with no problems.

Just curious. . . has there ever been a railroad incident attributed to someone in the cab taking pictures?

I know the problem with texting. . .but taking pictures?

Wow, Lance, terrific images and a fine telling. Yup, you're at work at dawn, and it's been a long night. But sights like these can add something intangible and special to that entry in the paybook. And a job becomes something more than just a job.

Brakeman's Reward, indeed.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Beautiful photographs. I'd also take the chance to lament the passing of pole line from the railroad scene. I think it really adds to the photos.

Stunning photo art and a few stories to tell.
Note you can follow the route starting with the red over yellow signal aspect, then see the points, then ride away to the right after taking the second diverging route.

What could be bad about taking photos? I don't think much with taking a picture, however looking at, sharing, or sending photos would be distracting.

The unfortunate decision by the Metrolink engineer to look at his mobile device instead of the signals at Chatsworth, CA, is guiding this aspect of the work now.

At least a straight camera won't rat you out by ringing if an efficiency test occurs, but the in-cab camera might...

railstiesballast Wrote:
> What could be bad about taking photos?

There were MANY times throughout my career that "fiddling" with a camera helped me to stay awake when I was having trouble doing so...

Good accurate write up Lance, it dredges up quite a few memories. Not many on here besides you & me that ever took a ride up the "electric lead", it's been dead & gone for years. And you know the only reason they put you away at Gladstone and ran you in the yard at all, is because you were riding with "Negative Bob". They all hated him, picked on him, and screwed him both ways over the road. And if you didn't believe it, all you had to do was ask him. Sometimes he would tell you all that without even asking. And I think I remember Bob Dill was braking for Cal Renfro at one time, you might have been working with him. A story in itself.

ddg Wrote:
> ..is because you were riding with "Negative Bob".

Yeah... he was some piece of work. He was one of those people who would walk up without you ever having laid eyes on him before, and you could spot that bad aura right off. He was that typical railroader who isn't 100% happy unless he can bitch about something all the time. And he took it to a new level. Thanks for supplying the first name, which I couldn't remember. Maybe because there wasn't much about him worth remembering.

And that electric lead: I didn't mention it because I couldn't remember if it the "electric" aspect was still there 1984. (I think not.) I also think it wasn't too many years after this shot that the entire lead itself was gone. I wish I'd have gotten shots of it being torn out. (yet another sigh.... )

Lance

Can't beat the view from the office:)

Posted from Android

Awesome views from the "office", can't be beat.
JB

nice photos LG ... why was that track called the electric lead

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
> ...why was that track called the electric lead...

Because the lead had switches that were lined up 'electrically' by the Emporia Yardmaster. Each switch had small signal-light indicators which were red-over-yellow. Red at a given switch meant you were lined up straight track. Yellow meant you were lined INTO that track. It was a sort of primitive form of CTC. Emporia was such an important out-lying terminal in those days, that "electric lead" that took your train into the eastbound yard was in virtually constant use 24/7. Now it's just a piece of ground with flourishing weeds...

Lance

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Out_Of_Service Wrote:
> > ...why was that track called the electric
> lead...
>
> Because the lead had switches that were lined up
> 'electrically' by the Emporia Yardmaster. Each
> switch had small signal-light indicators which
> were red-over-yellow. Red at a given switch meant
> you were lined up straight track. Yellow meant you
> were lined INTO that track. It was a sort of
> primitive form of CTC. Emporia was such an
> important out-lying terminal in those days, that
> "electric lead" that took your train into the
> eastbound yard was in virtually constant use 24/7.

thanks for the info

> Now it's just a piece of ground with flourishing
> weeds...
>
> Lance

yes i saw that on google maps

Very nice narrative and photos Lance. Spent a morning at Merrick Tower in 2001. (And the miles leading to it from Matfield Green).

Chico